An iPhone app that’s truly challenging, Lunarcy has become one of my favorite games. This is partially due to realistic physics that change with each level, the multitude of levels available, and joyous glee wheezing from my inner nerd.

Lunarcy is an arcade, puzzle orbit simulation game. Yes it’s a mouthful, and yes it takes iPod Touch games up a notch. The juxtaposition between retro-inspired graphics and the realistic pull of gravity lead me to want more, and I can have more! There are almost 50 levels in Lunarcy. Each allows you to attain a high score within it, then try again and again to better your score. At first I was apprehensive, but soon found that unlike many other games, this one began to stump me early on, but it is not impossible.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself (calming the astronaut ambition of my childhood).

The Goal of the Game

Each level has a different goal, but many are similar. Usually the point is to take off from the surface of a planet (with altering degree of gravity – so you’re always adjusting your gameplay style), meet a space station orbiting the planet by connecting with either end of it, and safely land back on the planet.

The goals are very simple, but some of these levels take such strategy that I can’t believe how many times I attempted them. Addiction orbits this game as I found five or six tries not uncommon. I think the most addictive part is that you are able to see marked progress with each attempt at reaching your goal. Psychologically this grabs me, letting me think that maybe I’m not so bad afterall and I keep trying despite my better judgement to interact with real life (this gets into a whole new philosophical realm surrounding mobile gaming and ironic disconnect that I won’t go into here).

Where Lunarcy Takes Off

• Number of levels and the challenging spectrum they cover
• Overall design of game
• Ability to Retry a level with no negative effect

Lunarcy is intelligently designed. Even the music is interactive as it changes depending on your proximity to a planet as well as your fuel supply. I love feeling you get as you are somewhere between free fall and learning to control your flight while running on binary fumes.

Here’s my moment of honesty: I need a game that lets me retry. Being a perfectionist, I want to be able to do it right, not just do it. I know that I’m in the minority here on this one, but the option that Lunarcy includes to Retry really let me master a level as I went. Of course, my scores were infrequently spectacular, but Lunarcy allowed me stressfree challenging gameplay. I figure, why do I need stress in a game if I’m using this to get away from my stress, right?

Where Lunarcy Runs out of Fuel

• Running out of fuel

Yes, this is part of the challenge of the game, but some of the levels I just cannot do with my limited reserves. You do have the option to refuel in some levels that are a bit more robust in what they ask of you, but there are some that are “simpler” where the solution alludes me.

The Bottom Line

Grab it! This game will grow on you. I continually rediscover my love for it. It’s worth every cent.

Please comment if you’ve used a promo code so that other hungry app collectors don’t waste their time with empty codes.

Promotion Codes:

ML3796AK6AXR

WFR9W6974XM3

*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.